Who Was Jesus? Fingerprints of the Christ

This book seems to be the most universally appreciated text by D.M. Murdock, aka Acharya S. Perhaps it is because the author cites, almost exclusively, the works of Christian writers (early church founders, modern scholars, et. all). And, yet, she demonstrates, very convincingly and modestly, a thesis completely at odds with the intentions of the majority of her sources. This is one of the most fascinating examples of "turning the tables" I've experienced. Who Was Jesus is not as offensive to Christians as some of the author's other works, because she manages to prove her thesis without relying on "secular" scholars. This is not an easy feat. As a writer myself, I appreciate the incredible patience it must have taken for this author to do this. My brother is in seminary, studying to be a Seventh Day Adventist pastor. He's studying Church history, ancient Greek and Hebrew, philosophy of religion, etc. I was very pleased when, after reading the text, he told me, "Wow. This woman really knows her stuff. I can't say I agree with her dismissal of my faith, but I am impressed how well she understands the obscure details of the New Testament. This has made me think." What better review could an author hope for.

Who Was Jesus? Fingerprints of the Christ just might be the best short introduction to Biblical scholarship yet. If you have ever entertained questions about the Jesus story as told in the gospels, the first four books of the New Testament, but were at a loss as to how to research and answer those questions, Who Was Jesus? by D.M. Murdock is the book for you. For some people, the Bible, and every word in it, represents the infallible, immutable Word of God. According to them, that Word tells us Jesus was God himself, here on earth in the flesh, on a mission to redeem his own fallen, sinful creation, man. Further, redemption required that Christ/God be killed, made a blood sacrifice to save man from eternal hellfire. If it's all infallibly true, how could it be that the four gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) tell different and contradictory stories about the birth and life of Jesus, about what he said and did, and about his resurrection? As Ms. Murdock clearly shows, the answer to this and many similar questions is that the New Testament was the product of a large number of writers and copyists who modified existing scriptures, religious ideas and stories to accord with Old Testament prophecy about a future messiah. All of this story-creation and modifying took place in the first four centuries of the common era, within the political context of the declining Roman Empire, a situation causing a culling process that ultimately selected the books that became the Bible from a much larger field of Christ stories. The Bible is the end product of centuries of tinkering by people who had political axes to grind--a fact explaining a great deal and neatly demonstrated in this gem of a book. Today, views about Christ fall into three basic categories: First and foremost, many believe the Bible to be infallible, the word of God, telling us that Jesus was God himself, incarnated as God's son on earth, born of a virgin, who performed miracles, was crucified, dead for three days then came back to life and returned to heaven. The second view is that Jesus was not divine, but was a prophet, a fabulous man who taught morality through parables, and gathered a great following. According to this view he may or may not have been crucified, but his followers went on to build a religion and a church based on his teachings. The basis for this belief is, typically, that millions of people have believed in him for 2,000 years so he must have existed. But being the son of God, the miracles, death and resurrection--that's just a bit much for anyone with a healthy stripe of skepticism. The third view is that the Jesus story is pure myth. It is extrapolated from and built upon the many "son of God, born of virgin, savior messiah" myths that existed in the civilized world 2,000 to 5,000 years ago. The storyline was familiar to the early converts, making it easy for church leaders to sell them on it. But it was only a myth, with no historical record to sup

On those CSI TV shows they're always dusting for fingerprints, trying to figure out "Who was here?" and "What happened?" Their motto is, "Follow the evidence." and "The evidence will tell us." The evidence often contradicts their original assumption, pointing them in a new direction, where they eventually find the truth. In this book Acharya examines all the evidence regarding Jesus. Every scrap of historical evidence we have, every metaphorical "fingerprint" left behind. Acharya follows the evidence, letting the evidence tell it's story. When we put it all together we get the best possible picture of Jesus and where the story came from.

This is the second book by this author that I have read and I am simply overwhelmed by the research, the scholarship and the use of pure reason in dismantling the thinly-veiled mythology behind Christianity. In a well-written and very readable volume, D.M. Murdock (Acharya S) uses Christianity's own words and works to lay before the reader in clear and easily understood prose how the early Christian fathers reworked ancient myths to create a fictional character named Jesus Christ who seemed to embody all the qualities of the gods and legends these simple pagans already worshiped I am a historian, although my bailiwick is military history, and yet I have always been interested in the history of things. Back in my prep school days, I started to delve into the history of Christianity and found a great deal that I felt I wanted no part of. I gave up my religion at about age sixteen, passing up gladly the easy allure of blind faith for the stonier path of reason. In Ms. Murdock's work I have finally been able to exorcise those last remaining doubts brought about by the early programming I received in school and church. I would highly recommend this work, especially to those who prize their ability to think for themselves, as well as Acharya's previous volumes, particularly "The Christ Conspiracy" and "The Suns of God." Well done and brava!

I am not aware of another book on the subject of Christianity that packs more information into 284 pages than Who Was Jesus? D. M. Murdock, also known as Acharya, has written another very fine book on New Testament studies. This volume concentrates on the person of Jesus, but also goes into great detail about how the New Testament was compiled, and how we can determine for ourselves the reliability of the writings. Many dozens of topics are covered in a way that lay people can understand, and the format is designed in such a way that material is very easy to find, because the exhaustive table of contents identifies the subject matter so well. The planning and the detail in this book show that everything is well thought out and clearly presented. It is nice to find a book for people who have serious questions about Jesus and Christianity that provides answers in a straight forward manner without meandering and rambling. This is a first class piece of work that will be referred to over and over by the readers. The history of Jesus is conveyed in detail for each of the four Gospels, including issues about the dating and authorship of these books. Murdock clearly shows us where the New Testament writers are using historical information and where they are adding their own theological ideas to the text. This book helps to make it more clear for us how and why the New Testament was a progressive compilation that tended to make Jesus more God-like with each telling of the story. This volume also shows the importance of understanding that the New Testament took time to be collected, and it also took time to determine which books were included in the canon, because the finished product was completed in centuries, not decades. Christians and skeptics alike will find Who Was Jesus? is not vindictive or condescending in the way the information is presented. Because many of the details may be new to the reader, this is a book every Bible student should have in their personal library.